This past week Canadian Blood Services has been promoting awareness of blood donation with Blood Donor Week. We thought we’d share some info about leeches. On first mention of leeches, many people probably think of Hirudo medicinalis, the medicinal leech. But this is only one of almost 700 different species of leeches. Continue reading “69/150: Leeches – They don’t all want to suck your blood!”→

The Spring Field Cricket, Gryllus veletis, is common across North America. You hear this cricket’s song in the springtime until late July. Many cultures have considered crickets lucky, associating their chirps with happiness. Male crickets chirp to attract mates, and females assess the quality of the potential mate by the quality of their chirps. Continue reading “31/150: Lady crickets like the tough guys!”→

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At the end of October, Gerry Blagoev and I flew across the country to visit the Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM) in Victoria, British Columbia. We were on a quest for specimens! Identified specimens, that is. Most of the time our collections team is busy finding specimens out in the field and preparing them for DNA barcoding. Once they have a sequence, we determine what the taxonomy of our specimen is based on its sequence. But how do we get to the point where we can determine the taxonomy? How do we know this taxonomy is right? By going to the experts! Continue reading “Visiting Victoria”→

9 months agoby BIObus_CanadaIt’s time to pack up the Curculionids! Next week two of our team members will be heading to the Smithsonian to return over 1000 beetle specimens that have been barcoded! They will be bringing back over 1000 more including Dragonflies (Odonata), Nerve -winged insects (Neuroptera) and Wasps (Hymenoptera)!

8 months agoby BIObus_CanadaIt's #fascinatingfamilyfriday ! This week we are highlighting the #Ectobiidae , the largest family within the Cockroaches (Blattodea). This family contains some of the commonly found pest species, such as the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, and several notable species of wood cockroaches. This family contains a group of beetle-mimic cockroaches in the genus #Prosoplecta and #Areoloaria , which is are of the most specialized groups of cockroaches. The Prosoplecta species in this photo is a lady beetle ( #Coccinellidae ) mimic.Some of the other species in the genus are mimics of Jewel beetles ( #Buprestidae ). Image Source: goo.gl/etCnH6